In The Present Future, Reggie McNeal contends that church leaders are stuck in the past, working off of old assumptions, and asking the wrong questions. McNeal explains why the questions that are being asked are the wrong questions, and he gives “six tough questions for the church.”
McNeal discusses the “collapse of the church culture” as one of six questions or topics, but in reality this is the basis for all of his points. He lays out a convincing case for this collapse, citing some key statistics. This includes the Presser study, a study which estimated that actual weekly church attendance in the United States is twenty-six percent.
Despite the fact that 74% of the population does not attend weekly worship, most church leaders are still in a “built it and they will come mentality.” These leaders are asking, “How can we do church better?” The culture, however, is not looking for a better church. So the right question is, “How can we convert from churchianity to Christianity?”
McNeal does an excellent job of exposing the motives that keep church leaders from being missional, and these motives are not attractive. Church leaders are only concerned about things which build up their own churches, rather than having a kingdom perspective. Hundreds might be being reached in an on-campus college ministry, but these students only count if they go through the church building doors.
Church leaders recruit people for “church jobs” that they need done, rather than helping them in their kingdom jobs. The only giving that counts is that which goes through the church treasury. Community transformation, if thought about at all, is viewed as a diversion of valuable resources from “real ministry.”
While many church leaders may find McNeal’s criticisms painful, this is likely because they are true. So much of how we view and assess ourselves as church leaders and how church members view and assess us is based upon visible, church-related numbers. We must learn to find our value in doing God’s will and begin to keep score of “kingdom points.”
McNeal does offer some practical examples of the changes that he advocates. For instance, he suggests meeting in a Barnes & Noble for a Bible study as a way to be missional; however, more examples and practical suggestions on each of his “answers” is needed. For instance, what type of kingdom numbers need to be kept when keeping score? Perhaps points could be kept for crime reduced in a neighborhood or number of people served, but readers are left to come up with these themselves.
Finally, while McNeal offers a needed wake-up call about the importance of kingdom work, he almost gives the impression that anything church-related is of little value. The church is the visible manifestation of God’s kingdom, and it should be valued; however, McNeal is correct that the kingdom is primary.
